Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Thanks to Margaret Heffernan and Fast Company here's an expert's tips on some of the signs you should look for.

One of my favorite warning signs, which seems like a no-brianer but makes perfect sense, is also something one should seriously consider whether you're looking to work for or hiring an agency.

Inability to hire former employees: I hired a head of sales once with (apparently) a luminous reputation. But, as we staffed up, he never attracted any candidates from his old company. He’d worked in sales for twenty years -- hadn’t he mentored anyone who’d want to work with him again? Every good manager has alumni, eager to join the team again; if they don’t, smell a rat.

To me, it's really all about relationships. One of the things I'm most proud of is the fact that I'm still working on various projects with folks I've known and trusted for over twenty years.

Whenever I hear "That's great!" or "Very nice." whether in regard to a band, glass of wine, a movie, song, grilled cheese sandwich or a logo, my initial thought is this:

Compared to what?

In order to truly appreciate the result, value or execution of almost any endeavor, effort, task or product, one must have an understanding of it's origin and all things preceeding.

Think about it.

Let's say your only experience with coffee was from Denny's or random gas stations. (Poor you!) Then, by chance, someone with an elevated palet treats you to a Starbucks at the airport before your first plane ride.

Now we've got something to talk about!

ReBrand™ is a forum for case studies and programs focused on effective rebrands and showcases a nice Before and After addressing all of the above.

(Not the best example but hey, I'm still working on my first cup this morning - HEB's Taste of San Antonio spiked with some freshly ground dark Columbian beans.)

Anyway...

Along with the Center for Design & Business at Rhode Island School of Design and partners, they organized ReBrand 100®, the first and only global awards to recognize the world’s most effective rebrands: the repositioning, revitalizing, or redesign of existing brand assets to meet strategic goals.

Grab yourself a fresh cup of your favorite, get comfortable and check out the showcased rebrands from around the world at ReBrand™ - it'll jump start your crit skills!

Monday, October 29, 2007

The smart folks over at Graphpaper conducted a study on the subway this Monday morning. They examined 50 people’s faces to see if they looked happy or sad. 15 looked happy, and 35 looked sad.

Can they say, then, that 30% of the commuters in the study were happy? Sure. But only if you trust their judgement in reading people’s faces. The numbers are a smokescreen — the real insight, the real magic, is occurring in their personal examinations of people’s faces.

Graphpaper's opinion is the linchpin of the whole “study”. If that one part of the process is unreliable — and you have no way of trusting that it isn’t — then the final numbers are also worthless.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Rockies are going to need their own Rocky Mountain miracle tonight to pull off something as miraculous as this unbelievable last play of SCAC title game between Trinity University and Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

Play began with 0:02 remaining in the game ... Trinity players used a total of 14 laterals to take the ball 61 yards for the game-winning TD.

This blackboard globe is just one of the super cool and affordable items from Muji, which finally makes it's US debut in New York this November.

New Yorkers, used to the egocentric Japanese personalities like Nobu and Masa, may assume that there is a man named Muji behind the Japanese brand that has already seduced design-conscious crowds at MoMA and is scheduled to arrive in New York City on Nov. 16 with its first American store, at 455 Broadway in SoHo. (And a 5,000-square-foot space in the new New York Times Building in January.)

But there is no Muji the man. New York shoppers who can read the characters in the Japanese label (無印良品) immediately get the inside joke. The first character, 無 (mu), means “without.” The second character, 印 (jirushi), means “brand.” “Muji” is simply short for “Mujirushi Ryōhin” or “brandless quality goods.” Muji started out in the early 1980s as a generic supermarket brand for Seiyu but has grown to encompass a huge array of goods including housewares, lighting and clothing.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Six years ago today, on October 23, 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPod, a $399 hard drive-based MP3 player with a unique Scroll Wheel and bright white LCD interface, an amazingly pocketable size, and high-speed FireWire for synchronization and charging. The first-generation iPod actually shipped in mid-November, eventually selling 125,000 units by the end of 2001.

One hundred and twenty million units later, that iPod has evolved into the sixth iteration, the iPod classic, spawned other iPod models such as the mini, shuffle, nano, and touch, and seen its capacity increase 32 times, even while falling in price. It has also played a major part in Apple’s remarkable growth from a struggling computer company to a major consumer electronics manufacturer, inspiring the iPhone and helping boost sales of iMac and MacBook computers.

If you believe that we are all born artists as Picasso once said, and enjoy thinking while you laugh, you'll dig this.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it.

With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate -- the talents of many brilliant people. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: "If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now."

This runs almost 20 minutes and makes a perfect quick lunch companion.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The presence in premium class of double beds, strewn for the debut with rose petals, prompted The New York Times to say that the Singapore Airlines A380 "sometimes resembles a luxury hotel rather than an airliner."

The A380 departs for Singapore on Tuesday and will enter service on a Singapore-Sydney route at the end of October.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Bit O' Honey. Bar none, is at the top of my list of The Best Candy on the planet. Next is Big Hunk, Red Hots, Peanut M&M's (straight out of the freezer) and dude, you really can't watch anything on the Big Screen at The Tiki Bijou without Milk Duds, Raisinettes or Goobers.

Bit-O-Honey first appeared in 1924 and was made by the Schutter-Johnson Company of Chicago. Bit-O-Honey was a new kind of candy bar consisting of six pieces of candy wrapped in wax paper and then packaged in a wrapper. Almond bits embedded in a honey-flavored taffy made for a long-chewing candy. Today, Bit-O-Honey is made by the Nestle Company.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ok, so by now we all know that Jackie Earle Haley has been cast to star as Rorschach in Zack Snyder's big screen version of the epic graphic novel The Watchmen from writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons.

In regard to how the talented Mr. Haley landed the roll of Walter Kovacs, AKA: Rorschach, a role that, as I understand it, Tom Cruise really wanted... - I think David Thomas puts it best in his overview from his site:

"...Here’s where Zack Snyder maintains and increases his 300 cred. No one would think of Jackie Earle Haley for Rorschach off the top of their heads, but when you hear it, it just clicks somehow. There’s a tortured intensity to Rorschach that Haley can play the shit out of. An unbelievably difficult casting choice, and Snyder nails it."

Exactly.

Especially considering that Jackie's first "comeback" role before his Oscar nomination was playing Sugar Boy, the badass, almost silent bodyguard in Steve Zaillian's All the King's Men.

Throughout the movie, when he's not cleaning his gun or driving like Steve McQueen, Mr. Haley can be seen eating sugarcubes, hence, Sugar Boy.

I'm thinking the Sugar Boy role had more to do with Zack's selection decision than anything else as Jackie was practically the only actor in All The King's Men to not get trashed by the critics.

Or was it something else?

Check this out - I'm almost finished reading Watchmen for the first time (Fantastic by the way...) and I just had to smile at the cool premonition of this panel:

Dig the poster with an alterable structure to display messages - a visually professional and attention grabbing alternative to the static poster. “Pixel It” consists of two layers of paper. Cuts on the white outer layer allow the user to fold parts out and therefore create a "Pixel-Structure" by showing the coloured layer underneath.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Two European scientists won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for a discovery that lets computers, iPods and other digital devices store reams of data on ever-shrinking hard disks.

France's Albert Fert and German Peter Gruenberg independently discovered a physical effect in 1988 that has led to sensitive tools for reading the information stored on hard disks. That sensitivity lets the electronics industry use smaller and smaller disks.

''The MP3 and iPod industry would not have existed without this discovery,'' Borje Johansson, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences told The Associated Press. ''You would not have an iPod without this effect.''

The two scientists discovered a phenomenon called giant magnetoresistance. In this effect, very weak changes in magnetism generate larger changes in electrical resistance. This is how information stored magnetically on a hard disk can be converted to electrical signals that the computer reads.

H. Michael Karshis

Howdy, my name is H. Michael Karshis, first son of Henry & Mildred and the oldest of six boys. Yes, my mom was a stay at home Saint. My dad retired from Randolph AFB in 1976 as a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force Chaplains Division. I was born in the U.K., educated in both Beantowns - San Antonio and Boston. I am a Creative Gun For Hire currently living the good life in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. But enough about me. Check out my
work and the blogs and you'll get a pretty good idea about what gets me out of bed in the morning...
Peace and thanks for looking.
hmk@sharkthang.com